How? GPT GUID Partitions Multi OS: Clone, Move, Resize, Boot

[crashnburn]

How? GPT GUID Partitions Multi OS: Clone, Move, Resize, Boot

Machine: X61T

CURRENT:

PRIMARY HDD: 100 GB 7200 rpm - Win 7 64 bit - Primary OS

SECONDARY HDD: Experimental Multi-Boot Scenarios

I want to try out Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Lion and some Linux options.
Once I get more familiar, comfy and enjoy working on them, I want to integrate into a single HDD.

FUTURE:

SINGLE HDD: 750GB 7200 RPM

I want to be able to CLONE the WORKING OSes from the above mentioned HDDs INTO a single HDD.

I would definitely be going with a GPT/GUID multi partition scenario.

Also, I have access to multiple Partition Management tools: Acronis, Paragon, Easus etc. Server/ Enterprise Editions of several of them.

I also have several such tools for the Mac OSX Platform - Drive Genius, iPartition etc etc.

LIMITATIONS & SCENARIOS:

I know all the above tools wont do all the things I may want to do in terms of
- Cloning certain types of Partitions
- Resizing / Moving them

e.g. I may begin to start using Mac OS X a lot more and hence want more SPACE for it and decide to increase its PARTITION SPACE..
e.g. Maybe have a SL and a Lion partition share a singular HFS DATA partition?
Stuff like that.

- Booting them.. without issues

But I know the individual tools by themselves can do several of them.

WHAT I NEED:
- What I need is to ensure that I understand, how the Partitions are STORED
- How Boot Managers such as Chameleon work in Multi OS Boot Scenarios and..

- How one can force Chameleon (and/or another Multi-OS Boot Manager) to "refresh" and boot OSes, once their Partitions have been rehashed - moved, cloned etc on the MAIN INTEGRATED GPT/GUID Disk?

- How & where can I go to read and understand this stuff as I play with it on the SECONDARY HARD DISK -
- BEFORE MOVING TO THE INTEGRATED BIG DISK PROJECT.

PAST EXPERIENCE:
I've done Partition Manipulation and Multi Boot in the good old days of Parition Magic, Norton Ghost and System Commander (Boot Manager) when I've run these off 3.5" Bootable FDDs all running on shining new Pentium 1/2 processor.

The good old day of Master Boot Recrods (MBRs), Primary/Secondary HDDs, Logical/ Extended Partitions etc.

[Great Gatsby]

Hi crashnburn, that sounds interesting! - Please don't forget to document what you find out here.

While we're at it - maybe you're also interested in reading a discussion about Mac OS X / Windows XP / Linux triple boot scenarios on GPT-partitioned media I started on osx86.net in early January 2010 (back in the days when it still was efixusers.com, before got merged with the dutch-based kexts.com):

Can Chameleon boot Windows XP (x86) from GPT partition?

[crashnburn]

Hi crashnburn, that sounds interesting! - Please don't forget to document what you find out here.

While we're at it - maybe you're also interested in reading a discussion about Mac OS X / Windows XP / Linux triple boot scenarios on GPT-partitioned media I started on osx86.net in early January 2010 (back in the days when it still was efixusers.com, before got merged with the dutch-based kexts.com):

Can Chameleon boot Windows XP (x86) from GPT partition?

Great Gatsby -

I had also posted this same new question also at osx86 - Check out some of the info that was posted by another expert. Do share your feedback based on combined knowledge & experiences of your own and this posters experiences.
How? GPT GUID Partitions Multi OS: Clone, Move, Resize, Boot

I've got a nice and interesting response.

And as I read your old thread Can Chameleon boot Windows XP (x86) from GPT partition?
and new stuff and bunch of other stuff (posted it several places), I am wondering about the following.

- Can the same stuff be applied over from the previous thread to the Win7 x64 as it was applied to XP 32 ?
- I guess Chameleon can boot OSX, Win, Linux etc.. But in certain scenarios where it cannot do JUSTICE to a non-OSX OS, can it/ does it need to daisy/chain load another Loader such as GRUB etc to be the middle boot loader e.g. Chameleon > GRUB/BootLoader > win/LinuxOS ?